Breastfeeding and Beyond

Authors

  • Antonella Sansone Doctor in Clinical Psychology, MA, Author: Preconception, Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology, Committee Member of McCarrison Society for Nutrition and Health and International Society of Prenatal and Perinatal Psychology and Medicine (ISPPM), UK

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4247.2013.02.01.8

Keywords:

Scientific, subjective, nutrition, emotional nurturing, attitude to nutrition, amniotic flavours, memory, emotional security

Abstract

This paper draws on the last chapter of my forthcoming book Window to The Womb. How Prenatal Life Shapes a Baby’s Development, which is an unprecedented dialogue between scientific research and maternal subjective experience. It highly acknowledges the supreme importance of the woman’s healthy nutrition and emotional nurturing to create an optimal womb environment and transmit a positive attitude to nutrition – and to life in general – to the child. In particular, breastfeeding may reinforce this attitude and allow for the baby’s smooth transition from the flavours of the amniotic fluid, introduced by the mother’s healthy food, to those present in the breast milk, which the baby recognises as familiar. Therefore, the benefits of breastfeeding are not limited to its nutrients but extend to the reassuring experience of continuity from the womb life, building the foundations of the baby’s emotional security.

References

Condace P. Molecules of emotions. London: Pocket Books 1999.

Schore A. Affect Regulation and the Origin of the Self. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates Inc.; 1994.

Dammann G. Borderline personality disorder and theory of mind: an evolutionary perspective. In: Martin Brune and Hedda Ribbert, editors. The social brain, evolution and pathology. Chichester: Wiley Blackwell 2003. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/0470867221.ch17

Hepper PG. Fetal memory: Does it exist? What does it do? Acta Paediatr Suppl 1996; 416: 16-20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1651-2227.1996.tb14272.x

De Vries JIP, Visser GHA, Prectl IIFR. The emergence of fetal behaviour II. Quantitative aspects. Early Human Devel 1985; 12: 99-120. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/0378-3782(85)90174-4

Schoal B, Marlier L, Soussignan R. Human foetuses learn odours from their pregnant mother’s diet. Life Sci Med 2000; 25 (6): 729-37.

Sauls DJ. Effects of labour support on mothers, babies, and birth outcomes. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 2002; 31 (6): 733-41.

Laboyer F. Birth without violence. Rochester: Healing Arts Press 2002.

Field TM. Effects of early separation, interactive defects, and experimental manipulations on infant-mother face-to-face interaction. Child Dev 1977; 48: 763-71. http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/1128325

Thompson M, Westreich R. Restriction of mother-infant contact in the immediate postnatal period. In: Chalmer I, Enkin M, Kierse M, Eds. Effective care in pregnancy. Oxford: Oxford University Press 1989; p.13-28.

Klaus M, Kennell J. Maternal attachment: importance of the first post- partum days. N Engl J Med 1972; 286: 460-63. http://dx.doi.org/10.1056/NEJM197203022860904

Nagasawa M, Shota O, Kazutaka M, Takefumi K. Oxytocin and mutual communication in mother-infan bonding. Front Hum Neurosci 2012; 31(6).

Chua S, Lim I, Selamat N, Ratnam SS. Influence of breastfeeding and nipple stimulation on postpartum uterine activity. Br J Obstet Gynaecol 1994; 101 (9): 804-5. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1471-0528.1994.tb11950.x

Panksepp J. Affective Neuroscience. Oxford University Press 1998.

Pollack, S. Lack of cuddles in infancy may affect development of brain. Guardian 2005; 22 November.

Reis LC, Hibbeln JR. Cultural symbolism of fish and the psychotropic properties of omega-3 fatty acids. Prostaglandins Leukot Essent Fatty Acids 2006; 75: 227-36. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.plefa.2006.07.014

Verny T. The Secret Life of the Unborn Child. Time Warner Paperbacks 2002; (reprinted).

Spitz R. Hospitalism: an inquiry into the genesis of psychiatric conditions in early childhood. Psychoanal Stud Chil 1945; 1: 53-74.

Chugani HT, Behen ME, Muzic O, Juhasz C, Nagy F, Chugani DC. Local brain functional activity following early deprivation. Neuroimage 2001; 14 (6): 1290- 301. http://dx.doi.org/10.1006/nimg.2001.0917

Crawford M, Doyle W, Leaf A, Leighfield M, Ghebremeskel K, Phylactos A. Nutrition and neurodevelopmental disorders. Nutrition Health 1993; 9(2): 81-97. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/026010609300900205

House S. Nurturing the brain nutritionally and emotionally from before conception to late adolescence. Nutrition Health 2007; 19: 143-61. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/026010600701900217

Hibbeln JR. Neurodevelopmental, evolutionary and epidemiological perspectives dietary deficiencies of omega-3 fatty acids in mental health. In: Post- genome: health implications for research and food policy; a McCarrison Society Conference, The Medical Society of London 2001: Sept 19.

Van den Bergh BR, Mulder EJ, Mennes M, Glover V. Antenatal maternal anxiety and stress and the neurobehavioural development of the fetus and child: links and possible mechanisms. A review. Neurosci Biobehav R 2005; 29(2): 237-58. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neubiorev.2004.10.007

Grenshaw J. Care practice: no separation of mother and baby, with unlimited opportunities for breast feeding. J Perinat Educ 2007; 16(3): 39-43. http://dx.doi.org/10.1624/105812407X217147

Kaits M, Good A, Rokem A, Eidelman A. Mothers’ recognition of their newborns by olfactory cues. Dev Psychobiol 1987; 20: 5878-91.

Kaits M, Lapidot P, Branner R, Eidelman A. Mothers can recognize their infants by touch. Dev Psychol 1992; 28: 35-39. http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.28.1.35

Vallardi RH, Porter J, Winberg J. Does the newborn find the nipple by smell? Lancet 1994; 344: 989-90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(94)91645-4

Sepkoski C. Maternal obstetric medication and newborn behaviour. In: Scanlon JW, Ed. Perinatal Anaesthesia. Oxford: Blackwell 1985.

Bell AF, White-Traut R, Medoff B. Neonatal neurobehavioural organization after exposure to maternal epidural analgesia in labour. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs 2010; 39(2): 178-90. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1552-6909.2010.01100.x

Christensen H. Having babies can sharpen women’s minds. The Observer; 2009: Febr 8. Christensen H, Leach LS, Mackinnon A. Cognition in pregnancy and motherhood: prospective cohort study. B J Psychiatry 2010; 196: 126-32.

Stott, D. Effects of different stresses. Follow-up study from birth of the effects of prenatal stresses. Dev Med Child Neurol 1973; 15: 770-87. http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-8749.1973.tb04912.x

Buranasin B. The effects of rooming-in on the success of breastfeeding and the decline in abandonment of children. Asia-Pac J Public Health 1991; 5: 217-20. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/101053959100500305

Lind S, Vuorenkoski V, Wasz-Hockert O. Effects of cry stimulus on the temperature of the lactating breast of primiparas. In: N. Morris editor. Psychosomatic medicine in obstetrics and gynaecology. Basel: Korger 1973.

Sansone, A. Mothers, babies and their body language. London: Karnac Books 2004.

Montgomery SM, Ehlin A, Sacker A. Breastfeeding and resilience against psychosocial stress. Arch Dis in Child 2006; 91: 990-94. http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/adc.2006.096826

Schaal B, Orgeur P. Olfaction in utero: can the rodent model be generalized? Q J Exp Psychol Med 1992; 44: 245-78.

Hepper PG. Human fetal ‘olfactory’ learning. Int J Prenatal Perinatal Psychol Med 1995; 7: 153-59.

Bion WR. Container and contained. In: Bion WR, Ed, Elements of psychoanalysis. London: Heinemann 1962 (Reprinted London: Karnac Books, 1984).

Sansone A. Working with parents and infants. A mind-body integration approach. London: Karnac Books 2007.

Sansone A. Working with parents and infants: a psycho-soma integrative approach. Nutrition Health 2007; 19: 69-76. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/026010600701900209

Winnicott D. Breast-feeding as communication. In: Mothers and their babies. London: Free Association Books 1988.

Hibbeln JR. From homicide to happiness – A commentary on omega-3 fatty acids in human society. Nutrition Health 2007; 19: 9-19. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/026010600701900204

Downloads

Published

2013-02-28

How to Cite

Sansone, A. (2013). Breastfeeding and Beyond. International Journal of Child Health and Nutrition, 2(1), 50–62. https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4247.2013.02.01.8

Issue

Section

General Articles